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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Courtney Pochin

Cleaning expert's 25p trick to get microwave looking good as new - without any scrubbing

In an ideal world, we'd all be able to keep our homes looking clean, tidy, and wonderful without having to spend hours scrubbing, hoovering, dusting, and doing other tasks.

Thankfully there are experts out there who can share tips and tricks for cleaning that will save us some time - and some involve minimal effort as well, which is a bonus.

The pros over at Zoflora, one of Mrs Hinch's favourite brands, have recently shared some of their expertise with the Mirror, explaining how you can tackle chores in your home, quickly, easily and cheaply, starting with removing all trace of grease and grime from your microwave.

According to the experts, the microwave is "often forgotten" when cleaning and if yours has been left for a while it can be "tricky to tackle".

You just need a bowl of water and some lemon slices for this trick (stock photo) (Getty Images)

But there's a simple way to banish the dirt from inside and it will cost as little as 25p to do for yourself.

All you need is a bowl of water and slices of lemon - and the zingy fruit can be purchased individually for just 25p from supermarkets like Sainsbury's.

To get your microwave looking good as new and nice and "hygienic" once more simply place the bowl of lemon water instead and turn the microwave on for three to five minutes.

Zoflora's cleaning gurus say this will "loosen any grease" that's inside the piece of kitchen equipment.

Once that's done, remove the bowl of water, turn off the microwave, and wipe down the inside with a cloth and an antibacterial cleaning spray, like Zoflora's Multipurpose Cleaner to ensure you've "killed any and all bacteria and viruses".

To then keep on top of the job, you can regularly wipe the microwave down during the week with antibacterial cleaning wipes, or your trusty cloth and spray.

You don't need to spend hours scrubbing (stock photo) (Getty Images)

And it's important to ensure that the cloths and sponges you are using to clean are also kept nice and hygienic as well, to avoid spreading potentially harmful bacteria around your home.

A spokesperson for Zoflora shared a top tip for disinfecting them after use, adding: "Dishcloths and sponges can harbour potentially harmful viruses and bacteria. Getting into the habit of leaving your dishcloths and sponges to soak in diluted Concentrated Disinfectant (1 capful for every 400ml water) at the end of the day will not only leave them hygienically clean and fill the room with beautiful fragrance for 24 hours but also save you having to repurchase new cloths on a regular basis."

This comes after experts warned of the grim consequences of not cleaning your make-up brushes regularly.

Hannah Pycroft, the co-founder of Spectrum Collections, explained that it's important to ensure you're washing your brushes at least once a week and that you're doing it properly - if not you could be putting yourself at risk of fungal infections.

She said: "The brushes you use on a regular basis should be cleaned at least once a week to help prevent product build-up and any bacteria growing. When you don’t clean your brushes it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and E.Coli.

"When you leave your brushes uncleaned, they eventually begin to grow bacteria from product-build up, even unused brushes can also collect dust and dead skin. On top of this, if brushes are used on an active breakout, this can also contaminate your make-up products if the brush is uncleaned.

"It then becomes a cycle of using an unclean makeup brush, a contaminated make-up product which then is used on your skin - this can cause potential breakouts and even more seriously, fungal infections."

Do you have a cleaning tip to share? We want to hear all about it. Email courtney.pochin@mirror.co.uk

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